the architecture draftsman

The drawings explore the architectural space freely, without the regular constraints of actual buildings. Anyway the reasons for which we build a space tend to become irrelevant in time. Drawing, you are free to overwrite a couple of hundreds of years, and go see what Architecture born from unknown functions may look like. The drawings on this blog must not be seen simply as drawings - they are Architecture waiting to become real. Drawings by Stefan Davidovici, Architect in Milan.

a
series of imaginary architecture drawings by Stefan Davidovici in
dialogue with photos by Stefano Gusmeroli in
exhibition at the CALL OVER 35, 21stTriennale, Palazzo della Triennale, Milan June 22 to July 31 2016

“...it
is in the guise of fiction that one can more easily and
relentlessly tell the truth.”

Robert
D. Kaplan, In
Europe's Shadow

Selected
for the Call over 35 section of the 21st
Milan Triennale, GROWTH.OVERgrowth is a series of drawings of
imaginary architecture by Stefan Davidovici put in contrast with
Stefano Gusmeroli's photos of the urban environment of Milan.

The
drawings and images are literally 'growing' together, under the eyes
of the viewer.

They
raise questions about the mechanism that makes architectural spaces
alive – the very fact that, like us, they are born, evolve, get old
and finally disappear, subject to the very flow of life and history.

The
photos and the drawings are intimately related. They grow together.
The two media are contrasting but are in a clear, active, living
dialogue.

We perceive reality in a complex way that changes over time and combines our direct perceptions with patterns and abstract notions. The way we conceive the architectural space that 'matters' - the one that 'hiddes a story' - is a direct reflection of this complex perception.

I have started drawing architectures on Mars just because it is so wonderfully empty.

What I draw, I have no idea, certainly they are not functions I understand. For sure they are not NASA bases or anything like that, I don't even know if those buildings are made by humans or not. It doesn't matter.

Architecture is powerful and meaningful in itself, this is what is important for me.

Even more, in dialogue with such a pristine environment.

But during the time I have started to understand that this dialogue with nature also means, kind of violating it. Parasite, life is just a parasite, grown abusively on the geological endless tranquility. Maybe geology should just be left alone.

The new series of collages commissioned by ESH Gallery in Milan.A series of imaginary architectures exploring the expressivity or Architectural space. In stark contrast - and in a deeply respectful dialogue - with the pristine, mercyless setting of a place impossibly far and however so familiar.

The
drawings are fully hand-made perspectives drawn on recycled paper
with ink/china. The original sizes vary from 30x20cm to 70 x 40cm.

The
background photos (Copyright NASA/ JPL-Caltech) are courtesy of our
eyes on Mars, the tireless rovers, which bring another world so close
to us. Even after all these years I still can't get over the sense of
wonder created by these images. It is a pleasure and a privilege to
work with them.

Whatever
we do, fixed order will always remain just a fragile achievement -
the world simply doesn't want to keep frozen in stable
configurations.

Always
new forces will keep shaping cities.

Haussmann's
radical interventions in 19th century's Paris are a perfect example
of a new order imposed over an old one.

But
any new layer will be in turn overwritten by another one.

No,
these structures are not free of practicality. But they answer to
practical needs we just can't figure out now. We can't understand
future urban structures and their raison d'être more than Robin Hood
could understand a Jumbo Jet.

But
we can draw
them.(YOU DIDN'T WIN, MR. HAUSSMANN, 5 has been comissioned for the If Only series of articles of the FX Magazine and published in January 2014.)

all architecture projects, no matter what their function or scale is, have to do with 'carving' the architectural space. the architectural space is the matter of our work in the same measure as the stone or wood are the matter of work for sculptors.

we identify three clear, successive steps:

1 - to fully perceive the architectural space
2 - to know how to represent it
3 - to design it.

by learning/ improving the first two steps, architects can fundamentally improve the most important , the design of space- the core of our profession and the feature that makes Architecture an Art.

the very same principle, based on the deep reflection involved required by drawing, applies also to the observation and representation of objects in Design-related context.

this is the main object of the courses and drawing workshops and courses I have been offering mainly in two complementary environments; academic at Milan's NABA Design Program and as continuing education at the Fondazione dell'Ordine degli Architetti di Milano.

besides the academic and continuing-education context I am also at the core of the 3 to 4-hours long free drawing sessions of sketchmob (organized here in Italy with Arkipelag and Alterstudio Partners), the Italian version of the British event inititated by our friend and mentor, Professor Trevor Flynn.

why not land the drawings on actual Mars, in the same way they do in Milan or Paris in the Landed series.
all the background photos courtesy of our eyes on Mars, the tireless rovers, which bring another world so close to us. even after all these years I still can't get over the sense of wonder created by these images. copyright NASA/ JPL-Caltech.

The MAPS are: tree-like, three-dimensional, what cities teach when seen from the airplane, aplications of universal network patterns, drawn in a train on recycled paper, aparently random but actually highly ordered, mandalas of complex realities, road maps for whoever is able to read them.